


I Wuv Hugs... And Cas

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Case Fic, First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Making Out, Mutual Pining, POV Dean Winchester, Shipper Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 12:38:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7758154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Sam finds a shirt in a Dollar Tree that has a teddy bear with the words "I Wuv _____" on its stomach printed on the front and gets one for himself and his brother after a case. It was only supposed to be a joke.</p><p>Until it meant something more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Wuv Hugs... And Cas

**Author's Note:**

> look i wanted to write about the case so there's that before you get to the good fluffy stuff ok deal with it

"So get this," Sam started as he plopped into his chair at the breakfast table. Dean froze in the midst of chewing a piece of toast and closed his eyes, really not wanting to deal with a new case at the moment. It was too early; the coffee wasn't even done brewing.

"Sammy..." Dean tried before his little brother could start explaining, but Sam ignored him. He began rambling about a mysterious death in a small town in Virginia, and how the victim had been a history freak and probably had several old artifacts that might've played a role in their death.

As Sam spoke, Dean finished his breakfast and placed his brother's plate in front of him. He was almost finished his mug of coffee when Sam finally ended with, "So we're a good few hours away from Virginia, so we should head out soon."

"Yeah, alright," Dean agreed, feeling a bit more awake. He figured he needed to get out of the bunker for a while. Besides, the case seemed like a simple salt-and-burn, so it wouldn't be a problem. 

In less than two hours, the brothers had tidied up the bunker the best they could, packed their bags, and headed out on the road. They were on the interstate nearing the Missouri/Illinois border, their stomachs full after stopping at a diner for lunch, when a familiar soft flapping of wings sounded from the backseat. Sam jumped in surprise, nearly dropping his laptop and the pile of papers on top of it. Dean, who was driving, swerved into the opposite lane and nearly collided with another car in his shock.

" _Damn it_ , Cas!" the eldest Winchester swore as he guided the Impala back into its appropriate lane. "I thought we told you to stop doing that!"

"You did, but I seemed to have forgotten," Castiel replied. "I apologize."

Sam sighed heavily and went back to his research without a word. The angel turned his attention to Dean, who could feel his gaze on the back of his head. "Where are you going?"

"Some little town in Virginia," Dean answered. "The name's a pain in the ass to say, but there's a possible case there, so."

"Appomattox, Dean," Sam grunted without looking up. "It's a historic town. It was a battlefield during the Civil War."

"That was a very gruesome battle," Castiel recalled tensely. "Very few of the angels were comfortable watching so many of our Father's creations die so horribly."

Sam and Dean had nothing to say to that, as they often did to things the angel said, so both went back to their tasks at hand. Until a part of Cas' last sentence made Dean double-take. "Wait, 'very few'? Some of them _were_ comfortable watching humans kill each other?"

Cas' brow furrowed and he frowned, from what Dean could see through the rearview mirror. "There were some of us who simply desired to learn from the experience. And there may have been others who were... Interested."

"What the _hell_?" Dean mumbled under his breath. Angels were so confusing, and yeah, maybe a little crazy.

A comfortable silence fell over the three of them for the next several miles, with the exception of the rumble of the Impala's engine. Shortly after passing into Illinois, Dean broke it by asking, "So, Cas, is everything alright? Did you need something, or...?"

"Everything is fine, Dean," the angel responded. "I've only come to check on you, be sure you're both safe." He hesitated a moment, chewing his bottom lip. It was a very human gesture that made the corner of Dean's mouth turn up. "I was also hoping to accompany you on the case."

"Well," Dean breathed, shifting in his seat, "we could always use the extra hand, although we're pretty sure it's just an easy salt-and-burn. Thanks, Cas."

He saw Castiel smile a little in the rearview mirror, and couldn't help but grin in return. 

-

Twenty-six hours later, the Impala reached the small, historic town of Appomattox, Virginia. The place was obviously old, with its dinky shopping centers and abandoned buildings. They'd driven past a bunch of empty fields with large Civil War-era cannons scattered around them. The dirt wasn't brown around here, as it normally was in every other town the Winchesters had been to; it was red.

"Cas," Dean questioned as he parked Baby in front of the police station. "Why is the dirt here _red_?"

"I believe it has something to do with the fact that this area was once a battlefield, Dean," Cas answered quietly. 

The eldest Winchester shivered at the thought of the dirt being stained with blood. That just couldn't be true. Maybe Castiel was messing with him, even though he knew that was rare.

They spoke with the head of the town police as their fake-FBI-agent alter-egos. Dean managed to get them the key to the victim's home, and Sam coaxed a passing policeman to tell them his personal strange suspicions about the death. 

"So that guy thinks the victim was murdered in a very similar way to a lot of the Civil War casualties," Sam said as Dean drove them to the nearest motel. "Seems more and more like it's just a ghost."

"But who?" Dean asked, parking in front of the motel office. "Who's the ghost? There were thousands of casualties in the Civil War. And how is he picking his victims?"

"Dunno."

After checking into their room, Sam went off to the local library to do some research, which left Dean alone with Cas. The motel room was as shitty as always, with ugly pale green wallpaper and urine-stained carpets. The sinks and toilet were rusty, and the water smelled (and probably tasted) of metal. Ants crawled around the kitchen, and Dean squished a cockroach making its way up his leg with his boot.

"Hey Cas," Dean blurted after a few moments of silence. He lay on the bed, hands clasped behind his head, staring at the stained ceiling. "Did _you_ watch the Civil War like it was some really awesome TV show?"

From his chair in the corner of the room, Cas tilted his head and squinted his eyes in that adorable way of his at the hunter. Wait, since when did Dean think Cas was _adorable_? "I witnessed a few scenes of the war, but I was not particularly fond of it. As you know, the angels were taught to love humanity, and watching them kill each other was not easy for most of us."

Dean turned his head to look at the angel, who was, of course, staring right back at him. Jimmy Novak had had nice blue eyes, Dean thought, but after Castiel had taken over, they weren't just 'nice' anymore. They were a bright blue, an impossible blue. Like, space blue. With millions of tiny stars, as if the entire galaxy was held in Cas' eyes. A celestial blue.

It always took Dean's breath away.

Nothing more was said between them; they instead had a staring match. Dean had no idea what Cas was thinking or what he saw in him, but he knew that the angel was the definition of beautiful. Sure, Jimmy Novak had been a pretty handsome dude, but it was just... different with Cas in there. He never combed Jimmy's dark hair, so it was always an actually pretty hot bedhead. And although the Winchesters didn't know what they'd do if Cas took off his suit and trench coat, Dean still wondered what he looked like underneath it.

It wasn't the first time Dean had been lost in Castiel. He guessed something had always been building between them since that day in the barn. The hunter knew he and Cas had a "more profound bond", and maybe that had something to do with it. All Dean knew was that he had these _feelings_ for the angel and didn't know what to do with them. They almost scared him.

The sudden ringing of Dean's cell phone, playing 'Ramble On', pulled him out of his thoughts. He broke eye contact with Cas and answered it. "Hey, Sammy, whatcha got?"

"Okay, so it turns out the victim lived right on top of the death site of some Civil War lieutenant. The lieutenant has been haunting the house for decades and eventually kills everyone who moves in."

"Awesome. I knew it was an easy salt-and-burn. Where's this lieutenant buried?"

"That's the catch," Sam replied, his voice uneasy. "He's buried underneath the house. No one ever found his body and he decomposed into the ground."

Dean hesitated for about thirty seconds, his smile turning into a frown. "Great. Fantastic."

"I could certainly help dig," Cas spoke up hopefully from his chair in the corner. 

"You will," Dean responded, shooting him a small smile. "We'll all dig. Get it done faster."

"Okay," Sam agreed on the other end of the phone. "I'll get dinner and be back at the motel in twenty. Bye."

They hung up and Dean tossed his phone onto the bedside table. He told Cas he was taking a quick shower and disappeared into the bathroom. By the time he emerged, clothed in jeans and a t-shirt, Sam had arrived with food from a local Burger King.

"Shit, Sam, I hope you got me a Whopper," the older Winchester said excitedly, falling into his seat at the table.

Sam rolled his eyes and handed his brother his beloved Whopper. Cas had chicken fries, the only thing from BK he claimed didn't taste too much like molecules, and Sam had splurged and got himself a Whopper as well.

Dean groaned obscenely at the explosion of taste in his sandwich. Sam, once again, rolled his eyes (although he had to agree, the Whopper was heavenly), but Cas froze and stared at Dean for a few seconds, an unreadable look on his face. 

"So," the youngest Winchester began started, shaking Cas from his momentary trance, "I figured we'd get some rest tonight and get this case closed tomorrow and head home."

"Sammy, it's a long ass drive from here back to the bunker," Dean complained with his mouth full. "I say we spend tomorrow night at the motel and head home the next day. Cas, what do you think?" Dean looked at Cas, knowing his brother would argue with him.

The angel looked between the two of them blankly. "I suppose we can travel back to the bunker the day after tomorrow. You both will need your rest after working the case."

"There," Dean said, looking back at Sam and slapping the table. "It's done. Problem solved."

Sam glanced at Cas and then at Dean and sighed. "Fine."

-

That night, Sam and Dean fell asleep on their respective beds while Castiel stayed in his chair in the corner. He watched over both of them, as he always did, despite Dean's protests that it was creepy.

The three of them headed out to take care of the Civil War lieutenant ghost early the next morning. In the midst of digging into the basement floor, the ghost started a fight with Dean. Cas went to his aid, so it was left to Sam to finish digging and burn the body. Just as the ghost was about to slam Dean's head into the concrete wall, the figure burst into flames and faded away. Sam grinned at his brother and best friend, the orange light of the fire burning behind his back. Dean gave him a weak thumbs-up before collapsing to the ground.

Taking care of the ghost took the whole morning. They went out to a local Dairy Queen for lunch, and Sam stopped at a Dollar Tree before they headed back to the motel.

"Tell me again why you went to the freaking dollar store," Dean grumbled from his seat on the bed. Cas had had to visit Heaven for an emergency, so the hunter was feeling a little down without him. And the pain in his back probably had something to do with it, too.

"I needed a new shirt after the ghost ruined mine, and so did you," Sam answered, a weird glint in his eye. "And I found the perfect one."

"Oh God," his brother groaned dramatically. He hated when Sam had that weird glint.

"Ta-da!" Sam exclaimed, yanking a pale blue t-shirt out of the Dollar Tree bag. On the front of it was a brown teddy bear with "I Wuv _______". "You're supposed to write something you love in the blank! Isn't it cute?"

Dean just scowled at him and the stupid shirt without a word. Sometimes he wished he was an only-child.

"I also got a black marker so we can write on it," Sam explained. He laid his shirt down on the table and uncapped the marker. A few seconds later, he held the shirt up again. He'd filled the blank in with 'hugs'. "I can't really think of anything I particularly love, so I just put 'hugs'. But I know you've got something you love. Or _someone_."

Dean glared up at his moose of a brother. "What the heck are you talking about? I don't love anyone!"

"Mhm." Sam draped his shirt over a chair and spread the other one, Dean's, out on the tabletop. He wrote three simple letters in the blank on the bear's stomach. Snickering, he held it up for his big brother to see.

The words on the teddy bear now read, "I Wuv Cas".

Dean choked on his own spit, a yelp escaping his mouth. His heart did a weird stuttering thing that he'd never tell anyone about, but that didn't matter. What mattered was what Sammy had done. 

"That's not true!" Dean shouted incredulously. "Cas is my best friend, Sam! I don't _love_ him!"

"Liar liar, pants on fire," Sam sang like a child, tossing the shirt at Dean. "Whatever, Dean. You still have to wear it tomorrow, unless you want to wear your bloody, ripped t-shirt from today."

Dean caught the shirt and nearly ripped it in half when Sam's words caught up to him. He would have no choice but to wear it tomorrow and hope to God that Castiel wouldn't show up until they got back to the bunker.

"Fuck you, Sammy," Dean muttered angrily.

-

Of course, fate didn't listen to Dean's wishes. The next morning, Cas appeared outside the motel just as the brothers were getting ready to leave.

Dean heard Sam say Cas' name outside the door and immediately rummaged in his bag for a plaid button-down. He put it on and buttoned it as fast as he could and came out just as Cas was asking Sam where his brother was.

Sam took one look at Dean in his cover-up shirt and snorted, to which Dean stuck out his tongue. Cas glanced between the two of them as they got into the Impala, but didn't say anything.

A few hours later, in the middle of Kentucky, they stopped for lunch at a roadside diner. Cas ordered a small plate of fries while the brothers got their usuals; Dean a bacon cheeseburger and Sam a chicken salad.

As he ate, Dean started thinking about the t-shirt he was wearing and how constricting this button-down felt. He wondered how Cas would react to the shirt. He certainly wouldn't be angry. Maybe he'd laugh it off as a joke, as it originally was. Or maybe... he'd react in the way Dean was hoping. Maybe he'd look the Winchester in the eyes and tell him the feeling was mutual.

But that was just wishful thinking.

So, at the end of their meal, Dean made up an excuse and basically bolted to the men's room. The place was empty, so he stood in front of the mirror and held his hands at the top button of his plaid shirt. He could risk it. He could deal with Cas laughing in his face. He could deal with his reaction, no matter what it was.

In a minute's worth of courage, Dean unbuttoned his plaid shirt and was left staring at the stupid teddy bear. _I Wuv Cas_. He loved Cas. He just found it hard to say aloud.

As soon as Dean exited the bathroom, his burst of courage was gone and he pulled the plaid shirt closed so the words were hidden again. Damn it.

Sam noticed the condition of his brother's shirts and grinned at him reassuringly. Dean didn't look at him; he walked straight past him and Cas and out the door.

The problem was, though, Dean needed both hands to unlock Baby. He unconsciously released his button-down and reached into his pocket for the keys. And as he pushed the key into the lock, he heard a sharp intake of breath and then a quiet laugh that sounded suspiciously like Sam.

Dean's head shot up just as he realized that his shirt was open and the bear was visible. Cas stood on the other side of the car, staring at the hunter with those wide, galaxy-blue eyes.

"Um." The eldest Winchester blinked at the angel, not knowing what to say. Shit. He had no idea what his face was showing, but it was probably a splatter of embarrassment, fear, and yeah, hope. 

Castiel, on the other hand, was staring blankly at Dean. One eyebrow was lifted slightly and his lips were parted in surprise. The afternoon sunlight created a five o'clock shadow across his face and glinted in his eyes, which showed the most emotion. They were a painting of conflicting feelings, from embarrassment to love, anger to happiness, confusion to knowledgable. 

"Dean," he finally said after what felt like hours. His voice was fond, and his lips were threatening to curl up into a smile. 

Dean smiled sheepishly. "Cas?"

"Sam!" the younger Winchester joked softly, knowingly. Neither his brother nor the angel paid attention to him. He had a feeling he'd be sitting in the backseat for the rest of the trip.

"Where did you..." Cas began, eyes flicking between the teddy bear on Dean's shirt to his face. "Is that...?" He couldn't speak a coherent sentence.

"Sammy bought it at a Dollar Tree back in Virginia," Dean explained, fiddling with his fingers. "Thought it'd be funny, since he thinks you and I are... you know."

"I don't _think_ ," Sam snorted. "I _know_ you two are in love."

Cas finally let the smile appear on his face, but it wasn't just a smile. It was a full on grin that displayed his gums. It was adorable; Dean's heart melted at the sight. And when his angel began walking around the front of the Impala towards him, his heart did some weird, excited flipping thing. 

Castiel wasn't laughing. He wasn't angry. He was looking Dean in the eyes, as if he was the only thing on this planet that mattered. As if he was the world. "Dean, I... _wuv_... you as well."

The cute version of the word 'love' sounded so foreign in Cas' deep, gravelly voice that Sam started laughing. Even Dean let out a weak chuckle, but he was too focused on what Cas was saying.

"I do," the angel continued. "I've come to care for you, in a different way than I do for your brother and anyone else. You have made me feel things that I've never experienced before. I believe these feelings have something to do with love."

Dean laughed wholeheartedly. "I do too, Cas." He cupped the other man's face and pressed their smiles together.

Sam was cheering in the background, and so were a few other customers of the diner witnessing the situation. Dean and Cas were in the their own little bubble, though. Nothing else mattered.

The Winchester took control of the kiss, as Cas wasn't as experienced and enjoyed just letting himself be kissed. He let out a little whine when Dean's tongue found its way into his mouth, and his hands wrapped around the other's waist to pull him closer. Dean kept one hand firmly on the back of Cas' neck, playing with the hair there, and the other gripping his hip. The kiss wasn't anything fancy; it was messy and full of teeth and tongue and smiles and it was definitely the best kiss Dean's ever had.

When they pulled apart and pressed their foreheads together, their small audience had dispersed and Sam stood behind them against the Impala, smirking smugly. "You two are grossly adorable."

Dean rolled his eyes while Cas' face flushed. He pressed one last kiss to his angel's swollen lips and turned to open the driver side door. "If we get moving now, we could make it home by midnight and ignore movies in favor of making out in the living room."

Sam gagged, but Cas smiled brightly. "I'd like that very much." He ran to the passenger side and sat down, hand in the middle of the seat for Dean to take and hold for the entire ride back to the bunker.

-

The three of them did make it home by midnight, and Sammy escaped to his room to get away from his brother's new, disgustingly cute relationship. Dean dragged Castiel to the main room and put a random DVD in the player. 

While Star Wars played on the TV, Dean and Cas spent the entire night making out like high schoolers and cuddling like the teddy bear on Dean's shirt (which he now refused to take off).

**Author's Note:**

> this idea obviously came from that edit of dean wearing that teddy bear shirt, but instead of "i wuv hugs" on the front, it had "i wuv cas" and cas is just staring with this fond look and it's just so cute and yeah. i hope you liked it :)


End file.
